Interlocking sectional structure.



H. G. CONRAD. INTERLOCKING SECTIONAL STRUCTURE. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 6, 1909.

946,1 1 1 Patented Jan. 11,1910.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1. i

H. G. CONRAD. INTERLOGKING SEGTIONAL STRUCTURE.

Patented Jan. 11, 1910.

2 SHEETS-SHEET}.

APPLIUATION FILED FEB. 6, 1909.

and arrangement as the drawers of a vertical main filing cabinet, whereby the papers UNITED STATES PATENT orrton.

HENRY a. 00mm, or cmcneo, znmnoisass'renoa To Artisans FILE 8; 1mm; co;

or cmcaeo. ILLINOIS, a concession or'jI mnoIs.

mrnnnocxrne'sncrronar. STRUCTURE.

I Specification airmen Patent. Patented 73.11.11,

Application filed February 6,1903. Serial No. 476,366.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENnY G. CoNRAn,

a citizen of the United States,and a" resi dent of Chicago, in the county of Cook'and State of Illinois, have invented certain, new and useful Improvements in Interlocking Sectional Structures; and I do hereby declare that the following in full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference, being hadto the accompanying drawings, and to the numerals of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in interlocking sectional structures such *as cases or receptacles whereby such cases orreceptacles may be piled or stacked one upon the other in vertical arrangement in a manner to give structural continuity and stabil ity to the pile or stack.

The invention is herein shown as applied to transfer file cases or receptacles in which the papers are filed in vertical arrangement in drawersthat are slidingly mounted in the cases; the drawers of the transfer cases being made of the same general dimensions may be transferred bodily to; the transfer casesand occupy the same position therein in which they are filed from time to time in the filing cabinet.

The invention consists in the matters hereinafter. set ,forth and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

As shown in said drawings":-:Figure 1 isv a perspective View of an interlocked stack orile of transfer cases embodying my inventlon. Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view of one of the transfer cases. Fig. 3 is a verthe filing cases or receptacles as a whole, and 9, 9 the-drawers thereof. The construction of the drawers follows generally the contical-section of a number ofcases arranged in a stack, the section being taken on the line 3'- 3 of Fig. .4. Fig. ffis a transverse section of .parts of twdadjacent transfer case's, partially separated, the sectionbeing taken on line 4=4 of Fig. 5. Fig. 5 is a. longitudinal section taken on line 55 of Fig." 4. Fig.6 is a perspective detail, illus-, trating the manner of interlocking an up per case with a lower case.

As shown in the drawings, 8, 8 designate struction of the sliding drawers of the usual vertical filing cabinet, with the exception that theyma'y be 'made'li" liter and more skeletonized by reason of t erelative in. v

frequent .use of the device. I

The construction of the transfer cases 8 may follow the preference or taste of thebuilder in the general features thereof,'fex cepting as to theparts on the upper and lower -walls thereof which, constitute the interlocking connection between the. cases or units. .As herein shown, the side wallsof the case comprise open frames consisting of upper and lower horizontal members 12,

12 an vertical front and rear members 13 and 14, respectively, and a central panel 15 made of any suitable thin material, as cardboard, a thin veneer and thefilik, thus -giving to the side walls a panel effect. The top wall of the case embraces also an open frame made of front and rear transverse member's 16and 17,- respectively, and side members 18, 18 which are joined at their ends tothe transverse members by tongue-and-groove connection, as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 6, and are rabbeted at their side margins into the upper horizontal members 12 of the side walls. The central part of the top wall consists of a panel 20, of any suitable material, as. cardboard or the like. Said central panel '20. lies at its side'margins over the inner edges of the side stri s 18'of the top Wall frame and is held in p aoe thereon by strips 21,21 lying thereover and rabbeted at their inner margins to receive. the side margins of the panel sheet. The end margins of the top wall panel enter grooves in the transverse members 16 and 17 of the top wall frame, as 'clearly'shown in Fig.' 5. The" bottom wall of the case embraces two side members 25; 25.which are rabbeted into the lower horizontal members 12 of the side frames, as shown in Fig. 4, and are attached at their ends to front and'rear lower transverse members 26 and 27 respectively, which are attached at their endsv to the vertical members 13 and 14c of the sidewalls. I The rear wall of the casing consists, as herein shown, of a thin sheet 28, of'cardboard or other suitable material, which is attached to the rear vertical members of the side wall frame and the rear members of the top} and bottom wall frames.

eferring now to the interlocking devices by which the: casings are locked together when stacked or iled, the same are made as follows: It wil be observed that when lit 1 an upper case rests on a next lower case, the end cross members 26 and 27 of the bottom wall of the upper case rest flat on the endcross members 16. and 17 of the top ward margins at their ends, laterally outside of the strips 21 as herein shown, with horizontally arranged short undercut notches or grooves 30 and the side members of i 15 the bottom walls, which extend below the planes of the transverse end members of the Walls, are provided at their rear'ends with tongues 31 adapted to enter said notches or grooves when the cases are-assembled. The tongue-and-groove connection of the adjacent upper and lower walls of the connected cases are so arranged that the tongues enter the grooves or notches 30 by a rearwardmovement of the upper case, the bottom of which in this instance carries the tongue, relatively to. the top of the lower case, which in this instance, carries the groove 30. In other words, such connection of'the tongue-and-grooves parts is effected 30 by merely resting the upper case on a lower case and sliding the upper case rearwardly to engage the tongues with the rooves. It will be evident that the same interlocking connection of an upper and a lower case 35 will be efiected by a reversal of the position of the grooves 30 and tongues. 31, with'the same advantage of bringing the parts into interlocked relation by movement of the upper case rearwardly. 40 The interlocking connection described holds the upper case from rising away from the lower case without first moving the upper case forwardly to disengage the tongue from the groove.

In order to lock the upper case from forward or releasing movement, the following construction is provided at the front end of the interlocked cases: The front transverse member 26 of the bottom of the -up er case is cut away to rovide a downwardly and rearwardly opemng elongated recess 33 to receive the front member 16 of the top wall of the next lower case, said recess 33 being of such depth as to receive the part of the member 16 extending above the side members 18. 'The said recess 33 opens to the rear margin of the under side of the end member 26 and the side members 25 at the bottom wall of the upper case abut at their rear ends against the rear side of said transverse member 26. Thus it will be seen that when the transverse end member 16 of the top wall enters the recess 33, as clearly shown at the bottom portion of Fig. 3, the forward ends of the side members 25 of The rear cross members. 10 17 of the top-wall are provided on their forbe released and removed the entire releasthe sub-section and thereby the bottom wall abut against the rear side of the'transverse member 26 of the adjacent top wall. Thus the upper case is prevented from being moved forwardly to release it from the next lower case until the front end of the upper case is raised above the level of the lockin strip 16. In order to release-the interloc ing connection between two cases, therefore, the front end of the upper case is first raised in the manner indicated at the to portion of Fig. 3, and said case is then' pul ed forwardly 1n a manner to withdraw the tongues 31. from the grooves 30.

In order to afford an interlocking connection between an u per and a lowercase to prevent relative si ewise movement, the side members 25 of the bottom wall of the upper cases are shown as provided at the inner mar 'nal parts of their lower sides with longltudinal rabbets which fit over and outside of the strips 21 at the top of the next lower case. Said interfitting up er and lower strips prevent lateral disp acement of an upper case and also constitute guides to guide an upper case to its interlocking posltion.

An advantage of the construction and arrangement shown is that when a case is to ing/movement thereof is forward from its normal or interlocked position. Thus a stack of cases may be set closely against a vertical wall or the like Without requiring movement of the stack away from the wall to effect or release the interlocking connection. f

The construction described affords an ex- ,,ceedingly rigid interlocked connection of the several cases of a stack to hold them together as a substantially rigid structure. Moreover, the construction is an exceedingly simple one and adds but little to the cost of the filing devices.

It will be understood that the details of construction are capable of variation within the sec e of the invention and I do not wish to e limited to the exact details exce t as hereinafter made the subject of speci 0 claims.

I claim as my invention 1. An interlocking sectional structure comprising a plurality of sections stacked one on the other, said sections having interlocking connections comprising a part at the rear 120 end of a sub-section provided with forwardly opening grooves and a part at the rearend of a superposed section provided with rearwardly directed tongues for en'- gagement with sa.id,grooves, and interlocking parts at the forward ends f said sec.- tions arranged to normally hold a superposed section from'shiftin forwardly on hold said tongue and grooved parts interlocked.

section provided with forwardly opening notches or grooves, side members on the bottom wall of a superposedsection provided 1 with tongues arranged to enter said grooves and a transverse member at the front end 0 the sub-section arranged to engage the front ends of said side members to hold said superposed section .from forward displacement and thereby hold the tongues and grooves interlocked. I i

3. An interlocking sectional structure comprising a plura ity of sections stacked one on the other, said sectionshaving interlocking connections comprising a part at the rear end of the sub-section provided with forwardly open-ing grooves and a part at the rear end of the superposed section provided with rearwardly directed tongues for engagement with saidgrooves, and interlocking parts at the forward ends of said sections arranged to normally hold a superposed section from shifting forwardly on a sub-section. and thereb hold said tongue and grooved parts interloc ed, and means on the adjacent superposed walls acting to hold the superposed section from lateral displacement relatively to the sub-section.

4. An interlocking sectional structure com prising a plurality of sections stacked one on the other, said sections having interlocking connections comprising a transverse member at the rear end of the upper wall of 'a sub-section provided with forwardly opening grooves, side members on the bottom wall of a superposed section provided with tongues arranged to enter said, grooves,*and

a transverse member at the front end of the sub-section arranged to engage the front ends ofsaid side members to hold the superposed section from forward displacement and thereby hold the tongues and grooves interlocked, the sub-section being provided on its top wall with longitudinally arranged strips adapted for engagement with the tongue bearing members to hold the sections from relative lateral displacement.

In testimony, that I claim the foregoing as my invention I afiix my signature in the presence of two witnesses, this 4th day of February A. D. 1909.

HENRY G. CONRAD.

Witnesses:

JOSEPH SUnss, ARTHUR J. AMBERG. 

